


One Night Only

by edgarallanrose



Series: Check, Please! Prompt Fills [10]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Celebrity Chef Eric "Bitty" Bittle, Eric "Bitty" Bittle Didn't Go to Samwell, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Future Fic, Jack Zimmermann Has a Child, Kid Fic, M/M, NHL Player Jack Zimmermann, One Night Stands, One Shot, Past Jack Zimmermann/Original Female Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 14:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20084005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgarallanrose/pseuds/edgarallanrose
Summary: “I’m not ready for morning yet, sweetpea,” Bitty whined into his pillow. “Just a little bit longer.”“Papa says if the sun is up, you get up!” a squeaky little voice that was definitely not Jack Zimmermann said.Bitty scrambled into a seated position, bunching up the blankets in front of his chest to cover himself.“Oh my goodness!”A little girl, no older than five, was sitting on her knees and staring intently at Bitty. She had a messy shock of dark brown hair. Her eyes were a startling bright blue, and unmistakably Jack’s.From the prompt : "Listen my kid just found you in my bed and thinks that you’re now part of the family and you just roll with it so I can’t be the one to break the news to my kid"





	One Night Only

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: For the “reasons why we're faking a relationship,” patater 13 if you’re comfortable with it (your post was kinda vague) or Zimbits 30 please! (also your url keeps throwing me bc I follow a lot of Shakespeare/literature blogs and I always think you’re one of them)
> 
> 30\. Listen my kid just found you in my bed and thinks that you’re now part of the family and you just roll with it so I can’t be the one to break the news to my kid
> 
> Unbeta'd, also apologies to anyone else who ever gets confused by my non-fandom handle lmao.

Bitty did not go home with men on the first date.

Hell, he barely ever went home with men at all. Ever since his most recent cookbook was released he’d been inundated with press releases and book tours and guest appearances. He had a four day weekend off after a booking at a baking convention in Boston and somehow his best friend and manager, Larissa, had convinced him to spend it going on a blind date in Providence, Rhode Island. 

But this morning, waking up and stretching his toes beneath clean, expensive sheets, Bitty did not regret a single choice that had led him there. Lord, he had needed that.

Bitty rolled over onto his side, burying his face into the pillow to hide his eyes from the sunlight streaming in through the curtains. The bed was empty beside him, but he knew Jack couldn’t be far. It was his house, after all.

Jack was the college best friend of Larissa’s longtime partner, but she insisted she could also personally vouch for him being “a decent bro.”

“I don’t know, Larissa,” Bitty had said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Isn’t a TV personality dating a pro athlete a little...cliche? And what could we possibly have in common?”

Then Larissa had pulled up a picture of the devastatingly handsome NHL Captain Jack Zimmermann and Bitty had agreed to the date.

The bed dipped beside Bitty and Bitty groaned, snuggling deeper under the blankets. 

“I’m not ready for morning yet, sweetpea,” Bitty whined into his pillow. “Just a little bit longer.”

“Papa says if the sun is up, you get up!” a squeaky little voice that was definitely not Jack Zimmermann said. 

Bitty scrambled into a seated position, bunching up the blankets in front of his chest to cover himself.

“Oh my goodness!”

A little girl, no older than five, was sitting on her knees and staring intently at Bitty. She had a messy shock of dark brown hair. Her eyes were a startling bright blue, and unmistakably Jack’s. 

“I’m Matilda. What’s your name?”

“I’m Bitty.” Bitty wasn’t sure why he offered his nickname instead of his professional name, which is how he usually introduced himself these days. But he was more than a little flustered. 

“Mr. Bitty, what are you doing in Papa’s room?” she asked, fiddling with a ribbon on her dress. 

“He, um,” Bitty desperately looked around the room for an answer, some inspiration for an excuse, for Jack to come in and save him. “Your papa invited me.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. “He invites Gramma and Grandpa to stay over sometime.”

“Yes.” Bitty sighed in relief. “It’s just like that, when your family comes to stay.”

“Ooooh.” She nodded, as if the puzzle pieces had finally come together for her. “I have a pony. Not a real pony, Papa might get me a pony when I’m six, but right now I have a pretend pony and her name is Rainbow Cupcake and her mane is pink and her tail is sparkly purple and--”

“Mattie!” Jack exited his en suite bathroom, wearing only a towel around his waist as he rushed over to scoop the little girl off the bed.

“Papa!” She giggled, kicking her feet and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, mon chou. But what are you doing here?”

“Grandpa brought me.”

“Is Grandpa here now?”

“Yeah. He told me to tell you he’s making coffee.”

“Can you go downstairs and help your grandpa?”

“Yep!” Jack placed her back down and she ran out the bedroom door.

Jack turned to face Bitty, his hand awkwardly scratching the back of his neck and his face bright red. Bitty was still clutching the blankets like a lifeline. 

“She’s cute,” Bitty said slowly, carefully. “Looks just like you.”

“I’m sorry, Eric. She was supposed to be at her grandparents until this afternoon.”

“I...Jack, I didn’t realize you had a daughter.”

Jack frowned. “You didn’t?”

“You didn’t mention it last night!”

“I’m just so used to being in the public eye, I assumed you knew about all that. That’s my fault, I’m sorry.”

“I guess if I had bothered to google you before our date I would have known, but I thought I’d rather get to know you, not what --” A horrible thought occurred to Bitty. “Jack, oh my god, are you married?”

“No!” Jack sat on the edge of the bed, squeezing Bitty’s knee over the blanket. “God, no. Matilda’s mother...we were together for a long time, but we were never married. We broke up before we knew she was pregnant. We have an arrangement, I wanted to be around for Matilda, and I’ve always been a part of her life. I’m friends with her mother now, but we’re not together.”

“Okay, it’s alright, Jack,” Bitty said, placing a comforting hand on Jack’s arm. “I was just a little surprised, that’s all.”

Jack still seemed extremely uncomfortable about the whole thing. He stared at the floor, arms crossing his chest.

“I’ll let you get dressed,” he said quietly. Jack quickly retrieved a few items from his closet and returned to his bathroom, closing the door behind him. 

Well then. 

Bitty rolled out of bed, walking across the room to close and lock the bedroom door to avoid any more interruptions. His clothes were still all over the bedroom floor. Lord, he hoped Jack’s daughter would not grow up, remember this morning, and finally put two and two together. 

When Bitty had made himself as presentable as he could, Jack still had not left the bathroom. Bitty would have liked to say goodbye, and thank Jack for a good night. Truthfully, it had been a wonderful night. While Bitty had never had real hope of this lasting longer than an evening, he was sad now that he was faced with that reality. Maybe at some point in his sleep he had started convincing himself he could make it work. But it didn’t seem like Jack was even interested.

Perhaps it was best this way.

Bitty was halfway down the stairs when he remembered he had left his bag in Jack’s kitchen. The kitchen where Jack’s father and daughter were animatedly chatting.

What more damage could possibly be done? The girl had undoubtedly already mentioned that there was a stranger in her father’s bed. He would just pop in, politely say hello and then let himself out.

“Jack, is that you?” 

Bitty winced, stepping into the kitchen.

“Good morning, um, Mr. Zimmermann?” Bitty wasn’t sure why that was a question. He wasn’t a teenager meeting his crush’s parents for the first time, for goodness sake. 

“You’re not Jack,” he said, a wide grin splitting his face. If Jack’s dad was any indication of how he would age, then Bitty was really missing out. He had Jack’s square jaw and sharp cheekbones, and still a full head of thick salt and pepper hair. “Call me Bob.”

“Hello, Bob. I was just heading out, I only left my things somewhere around--”

“Wait, I know you,” he said, pointing a finger at Bitty. Ah, hell. “You’re Eric Bittle! Bittle’s Southern Baking and Entertaining! My wife loves you.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you to say.”

“He stays over here now,” Matilda piped up. “With Papa.”

“Does he now?” Bob winked at Bitty and Bitty prayed for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. “We should probably offer him some coffee then, shouldn’t we?”

“And pancakes!”

“Yes, and pancakes.”

“Oh.” Bitty shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, I’m--”

“Papa, are you still here?” Jack called as he came down the stairs. 

“In here, my boy.”

Jack started furiously speaking in french until he rounded the corner and saw that Bitty was still standing there. Bitty shot him an apologetic look.

“Papa, Papa,” Matilda said, attaching herself to Jack’s side and hanging on the hem his shirt until he picked her up, setting her on his hip. “If you don’t wanna share your room with Mr. Bitty all the time, he can come and share mine, too.”

“Mattie, what are you talking about?”

“Mr. Bitty stays here with us now! Is he gonna be my papa too?”

Jack looked at Bitty, alarmed. Bitty was somewhere between wanting to laugh and throw up.

“Why do you think, uh, Bitty is staying with us?”

“‘Cause he’s family, Papa, and family stays over night.”

“Mattie, why don’t we go play outside and let your papa talk to Mr. Bitty,” Bob said, taking her from Jack’s arms before she could protest. “Show me your new hockey sticks, eh?”

Jack and Bitty stood across from each other in the kitchen, the island counter a physical buffer between them.

“You gave your daughter hockey sticks?” Bitty asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure, she loves hockey.” Jack tapped his fingers on the counter, looking anywhere but at him. “Eric, why was she calling you Bitty?”

“It’s my nickname. I prefer it, actually, to Eric. Eric is the professional baker and television personality. Bitty is...me.”

“And why does she think you’re a member of our family?”

“I may have let her believe that when she asked why I was in your room, though I didn’t think she’d take it quite so literally.”

“She’s five, everything to her is literal.”

“I see that now. But what was I supposed to tell her? That I’m in her daddy’s bed because last night I had some of the best sex of my life with him?”

“Well, no, but you could’ve--wait, is that last part true?”

Bitty chewed the side of his cheek. “It was certainly up there.”

“Huh.” Jack walked around the side of the counter and hoisted himself up to sit on it, facing Bitty. “I like you Eric...Bitty, whatever you want to be called.”

“I like you too, Jack. And Bitty is fine.”

“Bitty. I know we both have really demanding jobs and schedules, so you probably weren’t expecting anything long term from this. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell Mattie at this point.”

“Well, I do have two more nights free until my next event,” Bitty said, with a small smile. “If you wanted to keep the charade up a little longer until you think of something.”

Jack smiled back. “And after that?”

“After that maybe we’ll just have to keep finding excuses to see each other.”

“You really don’t mind that I have a kid?”

“Jack.” Bitty stood between Jack’s legs, gently pulling his face down to meet his in a kiss. It was chaste after all they had already done, but it still made Bitty’s toes curl inside his shoes. “Jack, you sweet, silly man. I love kids.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> You can reblog this ficlet on tumblr right over [here.](https://edgarallanrose.tumblr.com/post/186728744445/for-the-reasons-why-were-faking-a-relationship) Follow and/or subscribe to keep up with my writing and see the next time I'm accepting prompts, or just come say hi to me!


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